I’ve always been a cautious person, never going on roller coasters and staying away from attempting stupid things. Now I don’t know what I was thinking when I told my mom that this is what I wanted to do for my birthday. Sitting there waiting for my turn on the platform to come, my heart beating, I was in awe with what I was about to go through with with. I remember I was walking down the road with my dog going through all the options of what to do for my birthday. Going to the beach was at the top of my list. I hadn’t been to the beach in forever, but that’s when it hit me. Ziplining! My parents had tried to get me to go once before but I was too scared. As I approached my mom I pitched my idea to her. Thankfully she agreed and told me that she thought it was a great one.

As I counted down the days, it felt like it was going to take years for it to finally come. My friend and I planned out the weekend that was going to be spectacular. We planned out all the movies we would watch, funny ones not scary, and we made the perfect place to sleep with lots of pillows and a ton of blankets. As the minutes turned into hours and the hours turned to days soon weeks were going by and the day approached. I was dreaming about what the adrenaline rush  would feel like out in the trees with just a skinny wire holding you up while you are speeding through the forest, when we were in the car. Julia in her Hollister t-shirt and black nike shorts and me in my new clothes I got for my birthday (a teal blue athletic tank-top and grey under armor shorts that had a mesh like feel to them) and I wore my worn out teal blue nike sneakers to match, were now ready for this new and exciting adventure.

“Are you scared” Julia asked as she was reading my facial expression as we pulled into the driveway of the ziplining place. The company’s name was Zoar and I was familiar with their service. I was shocked when I saw how small the building was compared to the one I had previously been to for kayaking one time.

“N...No not really” I stammered to preoccupied with the weather which had gone from sunshine to a terribly disruptive and loud storm. I hate storms. They are my second biggest fear besides from spiders.

Pulling into the parking spot, it began to look as though we weren’t going to be able to zipline today. My parents seemed sad and so did Julia but I couldn’t help but let a tiny bit of happiness creep in. Let's be honest, I was terrified and this storm was not helping. Running inside, we tried to avoid all the huge mud puddles that had appeared so quickly. We were trying to dodge every rain drop as though we were the wicked witch of the west and if a single drop of water got on us we would melt. Taking shelter in the warm and dry building, the T.V. was turned on to the weather channel and we were monitoring the storm. Due to safety reasons the instructors were going to cancel our reservation but we decided to wait out the storm. Soon enough the sun was back out and shining. It was go time.

All geared up we headed out to their “school” for beginners and we actually had to pass the “test” that they gave us. Yay another thing for me to be stressing about. It turned out not to be hard at all and passing it was so easy. Now that we all passed the beginner zipline it was time to head out to the bigger ones. Piling into two army green jeeps we headed up the mountain. Man was that ride bumpy and to make matters worse, there were spiders all in the jeep! I scootched over in my seat letting the spiders roam, as long as they didn’t touch me I was fine. Gripping the post as we made the last turn before we finally reached the first platform, I looked at Julia who seemed to be getting nervous like me but I knew she would be okay.

Those memories seemed to all flash by so fast as I got up, my heart practically beating out of my chest, and reluctantly ascending the stairs leading up to the instructor who would help me clip in. Julia who was right behind me let out a little snicker because I had lost the debate on which one of us was going to go first. This must be so amusing to her. Watching as the person in front of me went, my feet were frozen in that one spot I was standing in. Standing there debating on whether I should just jump, I counted to three and went. The wind throwing my hair behind me and the sound of my laughter broke the calm forest silence. This actually isn’t too bad at all. Wrapped up in all the excitement I unfortunately missed the other instructors signal to slow down by a second and didn’t fully stop all the way before “BAM!” I went right past the landing stool and into the tree. Thankfully it had lots of padding and the resistance from the instructor grabbing me pulled me back just enough to where it was a light tap against the tree. Oh well now I learned for next time. After that first zipline the rest of the course was just amazing. I am so glad that I didn’t let my fear get in the way, well maybe a little did, but if I had stopped I never would’ve learned how fun ziplining can be.